Thread: There's never a single reason for the downfall of a civilization, it is always a plethora of factors that bring its eventual demise.

But if I have to choose the biggest reason for the downfall of Islamic civilization, it will be that its states surrendered to Mullahs.
To prove this point, let me provide you with a historical example. I have used this example multiple times but, in my understanding at least, there is no better example to showcase just how disastrous giving in to Mullahs can be for a state.
By the end of the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire had become one of the dominant states of Eurasia

In 1453, Constantinople the city of the world's desire fell to them. Powered by their military & administrative innovations they were continuously pushing the empire's boundaries.
Ruled by Bayezid II, the wise, they were also the most tolerant state of their time.

So when the Muslim Granada finally fell to Castilian-Aragonese alliance in 1492, their navy not only evacuated the Muslims but also the Jews from Iberia to the safety of Ottoman lands.
A Sephardic Jewish merchant petitioned Bayezid for allowing him to open a printing press, the first in Ottoman empire.

Bayezid gave permission & the first printing press in Muslim lands was established in 1493, around 48 years after it was invented in Mainz, present-day Germany.
Before the printing press, the author of a book would either hire scribes to make copies of his book or go for block-printing.

Both were time-consuming & labor-intensive, so as a result books were really expensive & only the Royalty, higher nobility or clergy could afford them
With a printing press, a single man could print 100s of pages a day, reducing book prices & making them available to the common folk.

It is after this invention that we see a surge in interest in books & literacy rates across Europe & that fueled the renaissance further.
Now enters the Mullah.

As soon as the printing press was established in the Ottoman empire, Mullahs either to protect their monopoly or out of pure bigotry called it a Jewish conspiracy to corrupt the holy Quran & put pressure on Bayezid to ban Arabic printing presses.
Bayezid II, son of great Mehmet the Conqueror, was a meek ruler. So he gave in to the pressure & a ban was imposed on Arabic printing presses

His son Selim the Grim, otherwise a stern monarch couldn't rollback this ban & it stayed in place till 1727.

Yes for more than 200 years
The 1st historical literacy data that we have is from 1800 & it tells a tale.

In England, 60% of adult male & 40% of the adult female population was literate. In the Netherlands & German states, adult literacy rate was 70%.

Can you guess what it was in Ottoman Empire, just 3%
How could Ottomans compete with the west under such circumstances? They started lagging behind in scientific, military & administrative innovations.

So the once mighty Ottomans became the "Sick Man of Europe" & finally collapsed after the first world war.
Yes, I'm oversimplifying history here. Again that was not the only reason behind Ottoman demise. But it was certainly a major factor.

Without the availability of books, people won't have an interest in becoming literate. And without a literate populace innovation is impossible.
So the question is what to do about it. We can try the division of Church & state etc. But even if I put personal beliefs aside, in my humble opinion that won't work

There's a reason Mullahs never came to power in Pak & MB got elected as soon as Egypt had its 1st fair elections
Forcing Mullahs into submission will only backfire.

Even an Attaturk styled forced secularism will eventually fail, as we are seeing in Turkey right now.

The state has to take away the biggest weapon the Mullah has from them, that is their monopoly over religious knowledge.
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